--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are no perfectly honorable men; but…" description: "\"There are no perfectly honorable men; but every true man has one main point of honor and a few minor ones.\" — George Bernard Shaw" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f7/george-bernard-shaw-68_greatness_there-are-no-perfectly-honorable-men-but_1315199.png" --- # There are no perfectly honorable men; but every true man… ![“There are no perfectly honorable men; but every true man has one main point of honor and a few minor ones.” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f7/george-bernard-shaw-68_greatness_there-are-no-perfectly-honorable-men-but_1315199.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f7/george-bernard-shaw-68_greatness_there-are-no-perfectly-honorable-men-but_1315199.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f7/george-bernard-shaw-68_greatness_there-are-no-perfectly-honorable-men-but_1315199.png) > “There are no perfectly honorable men; but every true man has one main point of honor and a few minor ones.” [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even honorable people have a hierarchy of values; they hold one primary honor above all, while other minor honors are less significant. **In simple terms:** People prioritize one main value over others. Key Takeaway Identify your core principle. Themes ethics personal values integrity Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - personal decision making - leadership - ethical dilemmas - relationship building Key Concepts hierarchy of honor moral priorities character assessment Questions to Reflect On - How do you resolve competing values? A Different Perspective What minor honors might conflict with your main one? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Honor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honor/) [Human condition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-condition/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) ## Related quotes > [One does not reflect on a point of honor - that is already dishonor. To submit to insult, to forget a humiliation, to quail…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-spengler/one-does-not-reflect-on-a-point-of-honor-that-is-already-dishonor-to/) [Oswald Spengler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-spengler/) > [“Honor,” she said. “The point is honor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/honor-she-said-the-point-is-honor/) [George R.R. Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-r-r-martin/) > [To speak impartially, both sayings are very true: that man to man is a kind of God; and that man to man is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/to-speak-impartially-both-sayings-are-very-true-that-man-to-man-is-a/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Does not every true man feel that he is himself made higher by doing reverence to what is really above him?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/does-not-every-true-man-feel-that-he-is-himself-made-higher-by-doing/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [There are courageous and honest men enough in both sections to fight. There is no question of courage involved. The people of both sections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-toombs/there-are-courageous-and-honest-men-enough-in-both-sections-to-fight/) [Robert Toombs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-toombs/) > [Every true man's apparel fits your thief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/every-true-man-s-apparel-fits-your-thief/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Every true man is a cause, a country, and an age; requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his design; -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/every-true-man-is-a-cause-a-country-and-an-age-requires-infinite/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“What do you remember—their kisses?" "All sorts of things…. Men are different with women." "Different in what way?" "Oh, entirely—and quite inexpressibly. 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Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-puzo/we-are-all-honorable-men-here-we-do-not-have-to-give-each-other/) [Mario Puzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-puzo/) > ['Glory' pays tribute to honorable men who faced unimaginable discrimination even as they fought to preserve basic human rights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-hammer/glory-pays-tribute-to-honorable-men-who-faced-unimaginable/) [Bonnie Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-hammer/) > [“The problem with those honorable men,” Avi says, “is that they expect everyone else to be honorable in the same way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/the-problem-with-those-honorable-men-avi-says-is-that-they-expect/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [“Gentlemen respect the rights of others. They are honorable men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-j-barrier/gentlemen-respect-the-rights-of-others-they-are-honorable-men/) [Ellen J. Barrier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-j-barrier/) > [War is not merely justifiable, but imperative upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace can only be obtained by the sacrifice of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/war-is-not-merely-justifiable-but-imperative-upon-honorable-men-upon/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cardinal-richelieu/give-me-six-lines-written-by-the-most-honorable-of-men-and-i-will/) [Cardinal Richelieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cardinal-richelieu/) > [Honorable men don’t settle for lives of regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mansfield/honorable-men-don-t-settle-for-lives-of-regret/) [Stephen Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mansfield/) ## More by George Bernard Shaw > [I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-love-little-children-too-but-i-don-t-cut-off-their-heads-and-stick/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/blasphemy-and-sedition-meaning-the-truth-about-church-and-state/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of life, man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-life-man-invents-nothing-but-in-the-arts-of-death-he/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative evolution. I desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/my-religious-convictions-and-scientific-views-cannot-at-present-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/what-a-man-believes-may-be-ascertained-not-from-his-creed-but-from/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/men-have-to-do-some-awfully-mean-things-to-keep-up-their/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The schoolmaster is the person who takes the children off the parents' hands for a consideration. That is to say, he establishes a child…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-schoolmaster-is-the-person-who-takes-the-children-off-the-parents/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/as-long-as-i-have-a-want-i-have-a-reason-for-living-satisfaction-is/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure without asking that figure to take its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-camera-can-represent-flesh-so-superbly-that-if-i-dared-i-would/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still communist at the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/a-man-who-is-not-a-communist-at-the-age-of-twenty-is-a-fool-any-man/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [But to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person’s thumb are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-to-admire-a-strong-person-and-to-live-under-that-strong-person-s/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/socialism-is-the-same-as-communism-only-better-english/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-peace-man-is-a-bungler/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) [Explore all 1,640 George Bernard Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More Greatness quotes > [The man who can master his time can master nearly anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-man-who-can-master-his-time-can-master-nearly-anything/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Every man who is high up likes to think that he has done it all himself, and the wife smiles and lets it go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/every-man-who-is-high-up-likes-to-think-that-he-has-done-it-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“You are destiny for greatness. 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Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/nothing-brings-out-the-lower-traits-of-human-nature-like-office/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/men-generally-decide-upon-a-middle-course-which-is-most-hazardous-for/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Every man remembers his childhood as a kind of mythical age, just as every nation's childhood is its mythical age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-leopardi/every-man-remembers-his-childhood-as-a-kind-of-mythical-age-just-as/) [Giacomo Leopardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-leopardi/) > [Greatness is not guarding yourself from people. Greatness is being accepted by the people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/greatness-is-not-guarding-yourself-from-people-greatness-is-being/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/the-superior-man-is-distressed-by-his-want-lack-of-ability/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Great men don't 'move to the center' - great men move the center!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/great-men-don-t-move-to-the-center-great-men-move-the-center/) [L. 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